The Protector: Games People Play

THE PROTECTOR is the fourth full-length instalment in HelenKay Dimon’s contemporary, adult GAMES PEOPLE PLAY erotic, romantic, suspense series focusing on a tight knit group of life-long friends, known as the Quint Five whose business it is to investigate and ‘fix’ whatever has gone wrong. This is Damon Knox and Cate Pendleton’s story line. THE PROTECTOR can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary. Told from dual third person perspectives (Cate and Damon) THE PROTECTOR follows Damon Knox as his latest assignment working for Levi Wren is to return to a place that all but destroyed his life. Cate Pendleton’s sister ‘died’ under mysterious circumstances while living and learning at the Sullivan Compound in Salvation Pennsylvania, a cult-like compound whose secrets lie hidden behind locked gates and armed guards. Having approached Levi Wren for assistance in uncovering the truth Cate learns she is to work with a man whose own secrets are closely related to the Sullivan Compound where her sister had died. Enter Damon Knox, the man with whom Cate will fall in love. What ensues is the fake relationship between Damon and Cate, and the potential fall-out as Cate and Damon are targeted for sins of the past, sins that wish to remain buried along with the dead. Cate is desperate to uncover the truth about her sister’s death but years of searching for the truth have the people living and working at the Sullivan Compound worried when our heroine arrives in town with Damon Knox. Damon is a man who is unable to let go of the past but finding himself in Salvation, Pennsylvania stirs up too many memories for himself and the people who remember what happened years before. The relationship between Cate and Damon begins as a business arrangement that must present as a fake romance in order to get past the people in charge. Damon believes himself empty and cold, unworthy of love having been betrayed by the people from his past. Cate suspects Damon’s inability to let go of the past stems from his need for closure thus facing his demons means facing the man who destroyed his life. A fake relationship with Cate forces Damon to reveal the truth, and in doing so allows our hero to forgive himself for what happened in the past. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text. The colorful secondary and supporting characters include Levi Wren, Wren’s second in command Garrett McGrath and Trevor Gault (of the Quint Five); as well as several members of the Sullivan Compound-Leader Steven Sullivan, brothers Roger and Vincent, and Steven’s assistant Liza. THE PROTECTOR is a story of suspense, romance, betrayal and revenge. The premise is entertaining; the romance is seductive and compelling; the characters are charismatic and dynamic but the lack of any significant background information regarding Cate or Damon was a bit disappointing especially as it concerned Damon and his years spent in the Sullivan Compound; or what it was he actually did for Levi Wren. THE PROTECTOR is an interesting, spicy and intriguing tale of determination and grit.